User:Otaku2/Rebuild
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There are several plans proposed for construction on the site of the WTC complex.
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[edit] History of Rebuilding Plans
PANYNJ rebuilding guidelines required the replacement of all commercial space and public streets and the pre-WTC street grid, greatly limiting the possible land-use designs. Accordingly, six plans were published in July 2002 to great public scorn.
One of the most popular plans, rebuilding the site Twin Towers, was rejected by Lower Manhattan Development Corp. staffers for reasons that were never seen as legitimate by the public. Silverstein staffers described how new office buildings with more than 70 floors would create short- to medium-term vacancies while rebuilding the towers. There was also a desire by the [NYC Transportation Commissioner] [Iris Weinshall] to restore the downtown street grid {1}.
Chief Architect David Childs of Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill denounced the plan original publicly and described the towers and super block as out of place and lacking in public-space activity and aesthetics. The near-universal disapproval forced LMDC staffers to restart the design process nearly from scratch, but with essentially the same guidelines.
Meanwhile, newspaper polls and letters to the editors, as well as the feedback in the LMDC "Listening to the People" initiative and on its website, suggested that there was a significant bloc of people who wanted to rebuild the Twin Towers and saw it as a moral imperative and an indispensible act of counter-terrorism. But their concerns were not honored and seven new designs were published and winnowed to two candidates: One from Studio Daniel Libeskind and one from THINK Design which was championed by The New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp.
[edit] LMDC Plans
The [Lower Manhattan Development Corporation] ([LMDC]) was formed after the September 11 attacks to plan the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan and distribute nearly $10 billion in federal funds aimed at rebuilding downtown Manhattan. They have proposed a 1776-foot [Liberty Tower] and several smaller buildings for the site.
The [Daniel Libeskind] plan was selected on February 26, 2003 by [LMDC] staffers. The plan includes the requisite commercial space in four towers. The old tower footprints would be preserved as sunken pits where a "Wedge of Light" would honor the victims of the attacks by focusing sunlight on September 11 from 8:46 to 10:28 a.m. EST into the footprints.
[edit] Popular Plans
A poll sponsored by LMDC staffers showed that the public preferred "Neither" compared to the Libeskind or THINK plans. While the public preferred the Libeskind plan (which repeated the earlier "Memorial Plaza" idea with more unusually shaped buildings) least, Mayor Bloomberg and New York Gov. George Pataki preferred the design and its approach to the guidelines.
Deliberation about the plan continues with many citizen groups opposed to proceeding with the plan for various reasons. Real-estate developer Donald Trump endorsed in May 2005 rebuilding the site with the Twin Towers 2 alternative plan, and in June 2005 when he was one of the first people to sign its petition.
Ever since the destruction of the World Trade Center there have been many organizations representing the grassroots desire to rebuild the Twin Towers. In November 2006, the Twin Towers Alliance was formed to provide supporters of rebuilding with a forum and a political base.
The Twin Towers Alliance is broad-based and does not sponsor any particular plan, but does promote the understanding that there are a number of proposals ready to go -- among them is the Belton-Gardner Twin Towers II design, which drew national attention when it was sponsored by Donald Trump in 2005.
[edit] Litigation
The Twin Towers Alliance on [October 26, 2006] called upon [Attorney General] [Eliot Spitzer] to conduct an inquiry into malfeasance on the part of [Governor Pataki] and the [LMDC] which would undercut the legitimacy of the master site plan, and to seek an injunction against developing the Freedom Tower, pending the findings of his investigation
[edit] References
1. [1]
[edit] External links
- The Twin Towers Alliance
- Team Twin Towers
- Project Rebirth
- Make NY NY again
- CNN article on Donald Trump
